Pencil bollards draw line under dangerous parking

CHILDREN at a Leicester primary school are hoping that new pencil-shaped bollards will help draw a line under dangerous pavement parking outside their school.

The city council has installed the 22 new bollards outside Hope Hamilton CE (Aided) Primary School to improve pedestrian safety and to tackle problem parking at the school.

Made of polymer resin around a steel core and measuring 1 metre high, the pencil bollards will help ensure that the pavement on Thornborough Way remains clear for children, pushchairs and wheelchairs – and that the road remains clear for fire engines and other emergency vehicles.

Headteacher at Hope Hamilton CE Primary School Jacky Farnell has welcomed the new bollards.

“We’re delighted with our new pencil bollards – and we’re very grateful to the city council for installing them for us,” she said.

“Most parents park responsibly, but the few that don’t are contributing to a serious problem outside our school, putting children at risk. We hope parents will welcome this.

“These colourful new bollards will certainly help prevent dangerous pavement parking on Thornborough Way – helping to keep our children safe outside school and keep the road clear for other motorists and emergency vehicles.”

The city council has already introduced traffic calming measures around the school, with speed humps and a 20mph zone in place, and the zebra crossing on Sandhills Avenue has been repainted, but problems with parents parking on pavements to drop off and collect their children have persisted.

Assistant city mayor for neighbourhood services, Cllr Kirk Master, said: “Pavement parking has been a major issue at Hope Hamilton for some time, with the headteacher, local ward councillors and the Police all making us aware of problems caused by badly parked cars on Thornborough Way.

“These new pencil-shaped bollards should help to deter the pavement parkers at Hope Hamilton, while providing a visual reminder to all drivers that they’re approaching a school and should therefore drop their speed and drive with caution.”

Ward councillor Cllr Vi Dempster said: “There was an incident, some time ago, when an ambulance couldn't get down Thornborough Way because of the badly-parked cars.

“This is clearly a situation that no one wants to see again so I’m delighted that we’ve been able to address the problem with these new bollards.”

The new pencil bollards on Thornborough Way, together with some additional plain bollards on Sandhills Avenue, have been installed at a cost of £13,000.

A full assessment of the physical measures and behavioural changes required at Hope Hamilton will be carried out as part of the city council’s school run action plan.

The action plan will produce a programme of works for every city school over the next three years to address issues around road safety, speeding, congestion and parking.

Work to tackle problems associated with the school run is part of the city council’s £2.2million Parking Improvement Action Plan.